When Is Affirmative Action Unfair?

As the Wire noted Thursday, the Shirley Sherrod furor has set off a new discussion
about race in America. The latest ripples in the pond come from an
op-ed by Demcratic senator from Virginia James Webb, called "Diversity
and the Myth of White Privilege." Writing in The Wall Street Journal,
Webb argues
that "[b]eyond our continuing obligation to assist those
African-Americans still in need, government-directed diversity programs
should end." Though the early, "initial program for affirmative
action ... was designed to recognize the uniquely difficult journey of
African-Americans" and, Webb's thinks, was "justifiable and
understandable," he argues that continuing to treat "whites as a fungible monolith" is
incorrect and unjust: in 1974 white Baptists had almost the same
average level of education as blacks, while between 1980 and 2000 white
Baptists and Irish Protestants, for example, graduated from college at
a much lower rate than some ethnic groups, and hung about ten
percentage points below the national average.

Bloggers,
expressing intense surprise at a Democratic senator writing such an
op-ed, have sprung to debating the merits of Webb's argument. Are
diversity programs unjust racial favoritism? And if so, why continue to
make an exception for African Americans? Furthermore, is there a policy
that could continue to help the disadvantaged while avoiding
affirmative action's pitfalls? Unsurprisingly, quite a few liberals are
irritated with Webb, and some conservatives don't think he goes far
enough. But in the middle, there's an interesting bipartisan consensus. Here's a sample of the reaction:

'Dishonest' Blogger Melissa McEwan
thinks Webb is guilty of the very "white monolith" thinking he's
criticizing; if you you define "white" as anything beyond "privileged
white men," argues McEwan, then the whites he claims are being unjustly
discriminated against often "qualify for, and have been aided by,
'special government programs.'" Why? Because diveristy programs have
often helped such groups as women, gays, and the disabled. She calls
his op-ed a "race-baiting argument that white people are being treated
unfairly."

'I Regret the Way the Piece Read, and I Hate the Title,' begins John Cole
at Balloon Juice, discussing liberal outrage at Webb's position, "but
Webb is talking about addressing the deep-rooted poverty he’s seen his
entire life in the back hills of VA, WVA,
Kentucky, and elsewhere." He points out that "Webb comes from a portion
of Appalachia where poverty is so deep, so ingrained, that the idea in
those regions that there is some sort of 'white privilege' is in fact
laughable."

Not Enough: Doesn't Actually Rule Out Affirmative Action for Blacks, protests Roger Clegg
at National Review, from the opposite end of the spectrum. Though he
calls Webb's op-ed "especially brave, welcome, and important coming
from a leader in the Democratic party," he finds it "hard to
understand" why Webb is denouncing all forms of racial favoritism, save
one.

Given His Party, This Is Still Huge, responds Clegg's colleague Jonah Goldberg. Furthermore, he agrees with Webb's argument that " the case for preferences
for blacks is morally and historically distinct from, and better than,
the case for preferences for, say, among, Hispanics or Jews." Though he
doesn't find that case persuasive, he's inclined to focus on the fact
that Webb went as far as he did denouncing affirmative action.

The Substitute: Class-Based Aid? "While I don't disagree with the premise," writes James Joyner
at Outside the Beltway, "I'm not sure what policy conclusion one
reaches. I fully agree and have long argued that using race as the sole
criterion for policy preference should end. But, surely, we don’t want
to create new categories, such as 'Scotch-Irish Sons of Confederate
Veterans,' for special treatment. We could target based on poverty,
perhaps with some sort of regional cost of living adjustments." He
wonders how to break the "cycle" of poverty and disadvantage "through
the government."

Yes, With a Caveat: Racism Still Exists
"Class/income-based affirmative action has long struck me as an
alternative that ought to get more attention than it does," writes Kevin Drum
at liberal publication Mother Jones. Class-based programs might wind up
helping "ethnic minorities" a little less, "[b]ut they have some
advantages too. For one thing, they help poor people." The one
"obstacle," he says, "is the insistence of conservatives on refusing to
even admit that racism is a problem anymore. It's become practically a
truism on the right that racism is a thing of the past, nothing more
than a convenient whipping boy to be exploited by race hustlers like
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton ... This is just poisonous."